Tag Archives: TIbetan Buddhism

Discover the Lukhang Murals at the Rubin Museum of Art

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Potola Palace, Lhasa, Tibet

Hidden in the Potola Palace is the secret Lukhang Temple. Amazingly preserved, this temple is a unique expression of Tantric Buddhist art historically available only to the Dalai Lama and his retinue for deep meditation and closed off to the public. The current Dalai Lama has lifted the silk curtains so to speak, and in addition to allowing visitors has allowed the detailed wall murals to be photographed. Currently at the Rubin Museum of Art you can see the Lukhang Murals even better than you can in the actual temple thanks to new photographic methods by Thomas Laird and Clint Clemens.

A separate room at the museum displays life-size, high resolution pigment prints placed similarly to how they appear in the walls of the temple itself, and handily for me are accompanied by audio recordings that detail at least some of what is going on in these complex scenes. The 18th c. wall paintings illustrate the Dalai Lama’s path to enlightenment and are unusual because these mystical teachings of Tantric Buddhism tend to be passed by whisper rather than openly expressed. 

Detail of East wall showing two Mahasiddha
They are also remarkable for their color and complexity, and the sense of order maintained despite the activity of all the tiny figures. While the recording only touch upon the surface of what is going on in each panel, nonetheless it provides a great and enticing background. With such expressive figures and scenes, I found my imagination going into overdrive as I examined them, and I had to promise myself I would come back for a second look.
 

While I imagine these setting isn’t quite as awe-inspiring as ascending by wooden ladder to this hidden secret in the Dalai Lama’s palace in Tibet, it’s certainly more accessible. 

More information here: 
http://hem.bredband.net/ritnyb/lukhang.html
http://www.asianart.com/articles/baker/index.htmll

Mandalas and Computers

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I was drawn to the Rubin Museum because of the special Red Book exhibition (more details of Jung’s work here), but what I enjoyed the most was the museum’s Mandala: The Perfect Circle exhibition. Mandalas from the 8th C. onward are displayed in a variety of styles and mediums and for different purposes. They often show a circle bound in a square. Within the circle, like in the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) mandala above, the circle contains a four sided structure that radiates out from a central point.


Mandalas are created as aids to spiritual visualization, especially in diety yoga in which Tibetan buddhists imagine themselves as ideal beings in the form of a buddha. The one above is devoted to Yamantaka, symbolized by the blue thunderbolt at the center. The archectonic form within the circle is his palace. It soars upward at each level, and he is housed at the very center and the very top. The circle around is actually circles, representing different places that must be crossed before entering the palace of the god and ascending. The outermost circle is a ring of fire, followed by a ring of charnal grounds, followed by a ring of lotus blossoms. A monk would use a mandala to cross these circles and enter the palace, then to walk down the hallway, up the stairs, around the next level, etcetera all in his minds eye. The mandala is a 2 dimensional representation, like a map, to aid in the visualization of a 3 dimensional reality. It is difficult–especially for someone like me– to look at a mandala and truly understand the visualization involved.

Enter, computers! The Rubin Museum has computers displaying virtual mandalas, in which computer graphic designers turn the 2D image into a 3D environment. The point of view of one is of a person dwarfed by the gorgeous and elaborate palace he/she is ascending. I gained such a better understanding of how mandalas were used and what a monk might see. The virtual mandalas are brilliant. Seriously, the coolest thing I have seen in eons. I didn’t have time for the rest of the collection, so I hope to go back soon. Not to mention, the museum is gorgeous, not at all overcrowded, and has a lovely cafeteria with samosas and white wine.

Jungian Art?

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I’m fascinated by the recently published Red Book of CK Jung since I read this New York Times article, which is a unique, fabalistic account accompanied by drawings of Jung’s struggle with his unconsciousness. It happens to be the basis of Jungian thought, and shows Jung at his most unhinged, and perhaps transcendent. The drawing above is one that Jung did for the Red Book, which he used more as a journal, and is currently on view at the Rubin Museum of Art. The book has never been seen before. The museum describes the exhibition:

During the period in which he worked on this book Jung developed his principal theories of archetypes, collective unconscious, and the process of individuation. It is possibly the most influential unpublished work in the history of psychology. More than two-thirds of the large, red, leather-bound manuscript’s pages are filled with Jung’s brightly hued and striking graphic forms paired with his thoughts written in a beautiful, illuminated style. Jung was fascinated by the mandala—an artistic representation of the inner and outer cosmos used in Tibetan Buddhism to help practitioners reach enlightenment—and used mandala structures in a number of his own works.

A great post on Artopia runs wild with mandalas and Jung and Aboriginal art…I highly recommend you check it out. It ends by arguing that none of these are, in fact, art, but tools of spiritual devotion. This kind of argument would rule out a fair chunk of the Western canon as well. Why can’t it be art and be a spiritual tool? However, it’s hard to fault someone who has turned me on to a really exciting exhibition I could have missed–I’ll have to report back after I check it out for myself.